Mending the Scars of Trauma
by Songblade Swiftpaw
Summary: Ani leaves home after being raped by his brother to get away for a little while and comes across a girl living alone in a legendary estate that is cursed, charmed, and haunted. And somethings changing with him both inside and out. AnixOC
1. Chapter One

Author's note: You have to have read "Brotherly Scars" in order to understand this one. But if you don't like things like that here's how it went Ototo raped Ani and now Ani is scarred from it. Anyway, I own Chassidy and the Horehound estates, and a few of the ideas were contributed by a friend, so anything else is not mine. Enjoy.  
  
Chapter One  
  
Ani got up out of his bed, it had only been about a day since the incident with his brother, he looked at himself in the mirror.   
  
"Damn it, I can't think about nothing but the other night." He whimpered, it was early in the morning so he knew his brother would still be asleep. He got dressed and made sure he was asleep, Ototo was sleeping on the couch, he wouldn't sleep on his own bed anymore. The blood stains on the wall from where he had kicked him were cleaned up, but they had stained the white wall a dark maroon color, a ghostly reminder of what happened. Ani looked at it, then looked away quickly a single tear running down his cheek, "I'm going out, brother, I don't know when I'll be back, if I even want to come back." He said to himself as he turned and left, locking the front door behind him. He set off in the direction he knew his brother would look for him at last.  
  
He walked for hours not wanting to stop, he was afraid he might run into his brother or that he might catch him. He walked passed places he had never seen before, in towns he never heard of. He never realized he was crying the whole time.  
  
******  
  
Ototo sat on the couch, crying, it had been a full day since his brother had left, but he understood why he left.   
  
"I'm so sorry brother, I don't know why I did it." He cried, he didn't want to go find him, he knew he wanted to be alone for a while, "I want you to be happy, I won't look for you, you need to be alone with your thoughts." He buried his face in his palms and cried harder.  
  
******  
  
Ani had now walked for two days straight, without food, water, or sleep, he decided now that he needed to rest. His eyes had started hurting and his ears kept itching, it was annoying him. It was getting dark when he found a large fancy gate with what looked like a park fence, the gate was open.  
  
"Maybe I can find a place to sleep in here." He went in and began to walk, there wasn't a single bench there, "What kind of park is this?" He asked, he noticed something that looked that looked like a large house silhouetted by the moon. He picked up the pace and realized it was no house, it was either a hotel or a mansion.   
  
"Whoo yeah! Three balls left!" He heard someone yell, it sounded like it was coming from around back. He cautiously walked around to the backyard, which was probably a good half mile walk because the house was so big. There was a young girl playing tennis in a lighted court, she was playing with an auto ball server. She was wearing the normal tennis skirt and top, she had platform tennis shoes on, all of them were a matching deep purple color. She hit the balls expertly, her dark blonde waist length hair swished when she would hit a ball, "Last one!" The ball shot out and she hit it back onto the other side. Ani forgot about everything momentarily as he leaned against the fence watching her.  
  
"Excuse me miss." He said, she spun around quickly.  
  
"Who are you?" She asked, she had silvery blue eyes.  
  
"Toguro Ani, could you please tell me where I'm at? Is this a hotel?" He asked.  
  
"No, this is not a hotel, and for your information this is Horehound Estates." She watched as he got a very questioning look on his face, he looked at the house, then at her. "You now, the one that harbors one hundred and thirty bedrooms? The so call mini castle?"   
  
"You mean the estate that supposedly has mystical powers and is haunted?" He asked.  
  
"Yep, one in the same." She set her tennis rack down and walked out of the court, "How did you get in here?"   
  
"I walked through the gate thinking it was a park." He said, she rolled her eyes.  
  
"I knew I should have tightened security." She ran her fingers through her hair, "So where do you live, I'll take you home."  
  
"I don't live anywhere," He looked at the ground, choking back tears, "I don't have a home."  
  
"Oh, that's why you asked if this was a hotel, isn't it?" She asked, he nodded, "Well, I'll tell you what, you keep me company because it gets lonely living by myself in and I'll let you stay with me. My name is Chassidy by the way."   
  
"Okay, you live alone in that huge mansion?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah, well sorta. I do have the ghosts and my pets that keep me company sometimes." She said, "Come on." She took him to a large set of double doors and opened them. He stopped to look at a weird statue of a dog's skeleton.  
  
"This is neat." He said leaning out to touch it.  
  
"Don't touch it!" Her yell echoed through out the house, then he heard something hiss.  
  
"Touch it and die!"   
  
"Why can't I touch it?" He asked.  
  
"Because, it doesn't know you, it'll take your hand off." Chassidy said.  
  
"It's only a statue." She leaned over and scooped it up, it's bone tail began to wag and it stated making weird whining noises, "Is it moving?"  
  
"Yes, now don't touch anything without my permission." She set it back on is pedestal and it turned rocklike again.  
  
"Okay, what yell that other thing? That was freaky." Ani said.  
  
"Oh, that was a ghost." She smiled warmly at him, "Now come on I'll take you to your room so you can shower and get some clean clothes." She took his up flights of stairs and through many curving halls, when she stopped they were standing in front of a set of huge doors, across the hall set another set almost equally huge.  
  
"Which one is mine?" He asked.  
  
"That one." She pointed to the smaller of the two, "Mine is the main master bedroom, yours is the second, I think you'll be pleased." She opened the doors to his. It was like a room straight out of a fairy tale, there was a huge canopy bed, pillows, luxurious things every were, and chairs with cushions so thick Ani would get lost in it if he sat down in one of them. The room even had it's own bathroom, Chassidy turned around.  
  
"There's the shower, I'll be in soon with a new change of clothes for you." She said walking away.  
  
"Okay." Ani watched her as she left, he then went into the bathroom and locked the door. The bathroom was done in dark blue, there was an old mirror hanging above the sink. He heard someone come in the room.  
  
"Your clothes are on the bed." Chassidy said, "Oh, and before I go, I like your eyes, they're very pretty."  
  
"Okay, thanks." He heard her leave, he looked in the mirror, his eyes were the normal yellowish color, but his pupils were slits like a cats. He looked at them for a while and then decided to worry about it later. He took his clothes off and turned the shower water on, he got in, letting the warm water run over his body. It felt as though it was washing his troubles away, suddenly he began to shiver, he felt cold and then fear. He froze it felt like someone or something was there watching him, something growled. Once he regained movement he washed quickly and got out, wrapping a towel around his waist. He unlocked the door and turned the doorknob, but it didn't open, he tried it again and still nothing, "Chassidy!" He heard her run into the room and she opened the door with no trouble.  
  
"Ani, what's wrong?" She looked at him and closed her eyes, blushing. His pupils almost completely covered his yellow colored irises.  
  
"The door wouldn't open up and there was growling." He said shakily.  
  
"It'll be okay, it's only the ghost toying with you." She said, now she was barefoot, and she was almost five foot five.   
  
"Okay." Ani's pupils returned to their catlike slits.  
  
"I'm going to let you get changed." She walked out of the room. He looked at the clothing, it was a pair of boxers, a pair of blue jeans, and a black T-shirt, he put them on and to his surprise they fit perfectly. He walked out into the hallway, Chassidy was waiting for him outside his door, "Do you like it?"  
  
"Yeah." He looked down at his new outfit.  
  
"I was going to give you a pair of tight leather pants, you know, because I thought you would look cute in them, but you look cute in those too." She smiled as he blushed.  
  
"Thanks." She was the nicest person he had ever met and he was already fond of her.  
  
"You hungry?" She asked.  
  
"Yes." His stomach growled.  
  
"I'll take you to the dining room." She led him back down the halls and stairs, they were now standing in a huge room with a table that could seat a least a hundred people. She sat down.  
  
"How are you going to cook if you're sitting down?" He asked sitting down next to her.  
  
"Why do men always assume the women are going to cook?" She asked, he shrugged, "Anyway, this is an enchanted table. Watch, I want cheesecake!" The table shifted some and a large cheesecake appeared in front of her.  
  
"Holy shit!" Ani yelled, Chassidy began to laugh.  
  
"Don't say things like that, it will do what you say." She asked for a fork and one appeared on the table, she picked it up and started eating the cheesecake. Ani looked at the table and started to laugh.  
  
"I can have anything?" He asked, she nodded, "Listen up table, I want a turkey dinner with all the trimmings and a ham dinner with all the trimmings." About thirty plates appeared on the table, filled with food, he got a fork and started to eat.  
  
"You can't eat all of that, can you?" She asked.  
  
"Probably not, but I can try." He said. She waited until he stuffed himself to get up, "Come now, time for bed." He got up and they went to their rooms, she was settled in when she heard a knock at her door.  
  
"Chassidy." She heard Ani say, she got up and opened the doors, he was standing there, his pupils huge again, "This is going to sound childish of me, but can I sleep in here with you?"  
  
"Sure, it's not like I don't have enough room." She led him into her room, she hopped up onto her large bed and laid down. He crawled up there very sheepishly and laid down too, he was the first one asleep, she smiled, "Sleep tight, I think you're the one I've been waiting for all these years." 


	2. Chapter Two

Author's note: Hidy, how do you like it? I own Chassidy, and some of the plots in the story are not mine, they're ideas from a friend. Enjoy   
  
Chapter Two  
  
Ototo was sitting on the couch, he felt someone's presence, he looked up. There was a woman looking similar to Ani, she was dressed in a kimono and her face was sort of blurry.  
  
"Who are you?" He asked, looking up, he could have sworn he had seen her before.  
  
"I'm surprised you don't know who I am." The woman smiled and he got chills down his back, "I'm your mother."  
  
"Yeah right." He snarled.  
  
"Believe me, I am." She said, "Did you like what you did to your brother? I'll bet you really loved it."  
  
"I never would, he's my own brother!" Ototo got up and looked at the woman.  
  
"Remember you kicked him, his blood went everywhere. You ignored his cries and screams just to rape him." She said.  
  
"Shut the fuck up!" He yelled, he ran at the woman and punched, she moved and his hand hit the wall with a loud crack.  
  
********  
  
Ototo sat up, tears coursing down his face, he looked at the blood stains and got up. He gritted his teeth and punched the wall, putting a large hole in it, he then sank to his knees with his head against the wall and cried.  
  
********  
  
Ani was woken up by loud humming, he sat up and brushed the hair out of his face. Chassidy was standing in the doorway of a walk in closet, in a tennis outfit, she was looking in a mirror. She opened the door some and saw him in the mirror.  
  
"Good morning!" She said happily.  
  
"Good morning." He watched as she threw him a pair of clothes, "What are these?"  
  
"They're tennis clothes." She said.  
  
"I don't know how to play tennis." He toyed with the buttons on the shirt.  
  
"You will here soon." She grabbed her tennis shoes and went into the hall, "Come out once you're done getting dressed."   
  
"Okay." He changed his clothes, he felt very uncomfortable in the shorts she had given him, but everything did fit great. He walked out into the hallway, she was now another four inches taller that she was before because of her shoes. She handed him a pair of shoes, he put them on too, oddly they fit.  
  
"Does the clothes fit?" She asked.  
  
"Yes." He watched as she walked down the hall.  
  
"First breakfast, then tennis." She said, "It's been so long since I've had someone to play it with."   
  
"Really?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah, almost two years now." They got into the kitchen and it looked like a tornado had gone through it.  
  
"What happened here?" He looked at twisted frames of metal chairs and other things lying on the ground.  
  
"Ectoplasmic activity." She said.  
  
"Huh?"   
  
"Ghosts, actually this looks like just one ghost did this." She said, "But don't worry the house will clean itself up."  
  
"Okay." He said. She walked over to the table, there was something gashed into it, "What's it say?"  
  
"I don't know, the table has already repaired too much to read." She lied, they read, 'I'm going to make your life hell.' The table fixed itself and she sat down, "I just want a biscuit and orange juice." A biscuit and a glass of orange juice appeared on the table.  
  
"Bacon, eggs, and biscuits." Ani said sitting down, it appeared on the table, he began to eat. He looked up at Chassidy, she hadn't touched her food, "Are you okay?"   
  
"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, after he was done she slid her plate away and got up, "Come, let's go play tennis." They went out to the backyard were the tennis court was, she went into a small shed and came out with two rackets.  
  
"Don't expect me to learn quickly, I really don't like this game." He said.  
  
"It'll be okay, you'll learn to like it." She said handing him a racket, she turned the auto server on and ran as the first ball was shot out, she hit it, "This game isn't hard, you just swing at the ball, you should be good at this game. Just about everyone is."   
  
"If you say so." He tried to hit the ball landed on his face.  
  
"You're hopeless." Chassidy giggled helping him up, "You don't swing that hard, it's not baseball." She went back to hitting the balls, he leaned against the fence, watching her every move, enjoying himself. He finally decided to try again, he hit it, but it collided with Chassidy's stomach.  
  
"Are you okay?" He asked her.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine." She was holding her stomach, "There was a lot of power in that hit, try to focus it at the cage." She pointed to a cage that caught the balls.  
  
"I'll try." He hit the next one and it hit the rim of the cage.  
  
"Told you it wasn't hard." She went and sat down on a bench, her hand still on her stomach. Her hands went to on top of her head and she began to whimper.  
  
"Are you okay?" He asked her again.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, just fine." She looked up at him and passed out, falling forward.  
  
"Chassidy!" He ran over to her, he sat her up, she looked funny. He touched her cheek and noticed something was showing from her mouth, he lifted her lip up curiously. It was a fang! She had two of them, her eyes opened.  
  
"I think we need to go in the house." She said quietly almost to quiet to hear.  
  
"Okay." He helped her into the house and let her sit on the couch, "You want me to get you something?" He watched as she took off her shoes and socks.  
  
"No, but I want you to go and lock me in here." She said.  
  
"Why?" He asked.  
  
"Please, just do it." She was on the verge of crying.  
  
"Okay." He went into the kitchen and locked the big double doors. After a few minutes he heard growling and the sound of stuff breaking, then it went silent.  
  
"Ani, you can come in now." He heard her say. He unlocked the door and saw her sitting on the couch like nothing had happened, there was huge gashes in the walls and there was broken things everywhere.  
  
"What happened?" He asked.  
  
"Just ghosts." She said.  
  
"Ghosts did that? It doesn't look like it." She seemed to ignore him.  
  
"Maybe we should find something less, um, painful to do." She got up and opened a huge door, showing a large TV, "I don't get any channels, but I do have movies."  
  
"I really don't want to watch TV." He said.  
  
"What do you want to do?" She asked.  
  
"Well.....I can think of one think." He looked at her.  
  
"Ewww! Pervert! I will not do that." She said.  
  
"Okay, it was a thought." He said, she tackled him and stated to wrestle, "You think you can win?"   
  
"Yep." She pinned him to the ground, he pushed her off and wrestled until he pinned her.  
  
"You can never win against me." He smiled at her, he leaned forward and kissed her. She instantly sat up and turned around, "What's wrong?"  
  
"That was my first kiss." She said.  
  
"What?" He sat up and put his arms around her, she looked at him.  
  
"Yeah, it was and last night was also my first time sleeping in the same bed with a guy." She said.  
  
"Oh, do I make you uncomfortable?" He laid his head against hers.  
  
"No." She said, "Actually, if you would follow me to my room." She got up and he followed without questioning her.   
  
********  
  
He woke up and looked around, he was in her bed, she was asleep next to him. He got up and got his clothing on, his ears had been itching all day but he had ignored it. He went into her bathroom and looked in the mirror. He had two large cat ears! He pulled his hair back some and realized his ears weren't there. He tugged at his new set of ears to see if they were and they were well attached and twitching. Now he didn't know what to do, he walked quietly out of the bathroom and made sure she was asleep. He opened her closet door and walked in, there were clothes from different times and places, he was a hat and grabbed it. It was a normal baseball hat that had a fox on it, he put it on and tucked his ears in. He sat on the edge of the bed, thinking. He didn't know how he was going to explain it to Chassidy if she found out. 


	3. Chapter Three

uthor's note: Why do people always assume Ani to be something icky or disgusting? There is nothing wrong with him. Anyway, enough with my rambling. I own Chassidy and her house. Some of the ideas belong to a friend. Enjoy.   
  
        Chapter Three  
  
        Ani had avoided Chassidy for about three days, he slept n the same bed with her, but he never slept soundly. He asked to sleep alone that night, he didn't want Chassidy to find out his secret. He fell asleep quickly and soundly.  
  
        *******  
  
        He opened his eyes, he was on his brother's bed and his brother was raping him.  
  
        "Not again." He whimpered, "Please brother, stop!"  
  
        "Shut up and take it." He heard his brother growl. Ani started crying again, his brother moaned his name loudly and then dropped him onto the bed.  
  
        "Why brother?" Ani asked, Ototo back handed him.  
  
        ********  
  
        "Ani! Ani! Please wake up!" He opened his eyes, Chassidy was standing over him, "Are you all right?"  
  
        "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Ani made sure the hat was still on his head, he wiped the sleep from his eyes, they were wet. He had been crying.  
  
        "You were screaming things, I was scared a ghost might have gotten a hold of you." She said, she had a hat on too.  
  
        "No, it was just a bad dream." He got up, "Is it safe for me to walk through the house by myself yet?"   
  
        "It should be." She said, "Why?"   
  
        "I'm a little hungry." He walked over to the door.  
  
        "Are you sure you're okay?" She asked.  
  
        "Yes, Chassidy, I'm okay." He said reassuringly.  
  
        "Then I'm going to go back to bed." She smiled and went back to her room. Ani sighed in relief, he didn't wan her to see him make a pig of himself. He walked down to the kitchen, it was nice and clean, he sat down at the table.  
  
        "Fish and milk." He said, a large plate of fish and a wine glass filled with milk appeared on the table. He had seemed to acquire the taste for it, even though it was more like an intense craving. He munched away happily, sipping the milk. There was something he had noticed, it looked like he was getting a tail. He thought about what was going on with him and what would happen if Chassidy found out. He hated to avoid sleeping with her, she always made him feel good. Suddenly he felt cold and extremely scared, the wine glass fell from his hand and smashed on the stone floor. It was like he was too scared to move, after sometime the feeling left him, he slouched in his chair. He no longer wanted to eat.  
  
        ********  
  
        Ototo had been searching high and low, trying to find something on his 'mother' and so far he hadn't found nothing. He was on the verge of giving up, he walked through a room, frustrated.  
  
        "Damn it! She couldn't have been our mother, I couldn't find anything." He stomped his foot on the floor hard and the floor board broke, "Huh?" He pulled his foot out and got on his hands and knees. He pushed the floor board pieces aside and reached in, his hand brushed something and he pulled it out. I was a few little mementos, he reached back in there and he touched a book, he yanked it out quickly. It was someone's old journal, he took it with him into the living room. He began to read it, some of the entries talked about wanting to kill her son, his brother! Others talked about how everyone was against her, even the neighbor's cat.  
  
        "She must have been a psychopathic freak." Ototo said, something fell out of the journal, it was a picture of the woman he had seen in his dream, his mother. "Now this is freaky."   
  
        *******  
  
        Ani hadn't slept the rest of the night, he stayed at the table. Chassidy came prancing into the kitchen, clad in a night gown and a baseball hat.   
  
        "Why are you wearing that hat?" Ani asked her.  
  
        "I'll answer that if you tell me why you are wearing a hat." She sat down and got some breakfast. She ate very sloppily that morning.  
  
        "I'm wearing it because I want to." He just sat and watched her eat like a slob.  
  
        "Same here." She said in between mouth fulls, "I'm going out for a run once I'm done eating."  
  
        "You're going to run in that?" He got another glassful of milk.  
  
        "No," She finished eating and stood up, removing the gown, she had on a running shorts and a sports bra, "See."  
  
        "Oh, okay." He sipped at his milk, watching her bounce off to the back door. The door opened and closed, he smiled to himself, "I feel so lucky."  
  
        "Ahhh!" He heard Chassidy scream, he dropped the glass and ran outside, not even noticing his hat had fallen off. Chassidy was pinned against the fence of the tennis court by what looked like a rabid dog.  
  
        "Chassidy!" He shouted. He didn't even think, it was like his body had hit auto drive, he killed the dog with his hands. He looked at Chassidy, she had big red dog ears, like a German Shepherd, she also had a tail too, "Chassidy, you have ears and a tail!"  
  
        "You have ears too!" She said. His hands went to his head and onto the cat ears.  
  
        "So, I don't know how I got these." He said.  
  
        "I know how I got mine, I was born with mine," He looked at her questioningly, "My kind are dog demons, we were bred to be the best hunters, the best fighters, and the best chasers. My last name is Redhound, it symbolizes what I am."   
  
        "Oh." He watched her tail start to wag.  
  
        "Are those cat ears?" She asked.  
  
        "Yes, I think so." Her tail wagged faster, "Why?"  
  
        "Dogs chase cats." His eyes grew wide as he stood up and began to run, she had let him get a head start before she got up and ran. She was already beside him in the matter of seconds, "Give it up, I was made for running and chasing." She grinned and tackled him.  
  
        "What are you going to do to me?" He asked, kind of scared by her now.  
  
        "Nothing much." She playfully bit his neck, "Come on in the house, I'm sick of being brushed off, you're going to do me."  
  
        "Uh...Okay." He got up and she led him into the house, he was very happy that she had accepted his ears.  
  
        ********  
  
        Ototo was walking out of the library, he had done some more research on his mother.  
  
        "I can't believe she starved herself to death, just because Japan had surrendered in World War Two." He was holding a copy of his mother's obituary, "She honestly didn't have all her marbles." He had come to a conclusion, it must have been his mother that had made him to that to his brother. He was debating on whether or not to go find Ani, the Dark World Tournament was coming up. He wondered what his brother was doing at the moment, he dismissed his thoughts from his head.   
  
        *******  
  
        Ani was sitting on Chassidy's bed, letting her play with his ears, he was so happy. She liked to have her ears scratched, but she hated having her tail pull. He had made the mistake of pulling on it when they were making love and she bit him.   
  
        "Chassidy, I love you."   
  
        "I love you too, Ani." She licked his cheek in a dog-like way. 


End file.
